Thursday, May 8, 2008

Out of the Mouths of Moms

I can't believe the things I say in my role as a mom sometimes. It's always frightening when things fly out of my mouth that my own parents used to say to me and made my eyes roll into the back of my head. (one of my old faves..."we're starting to see a pattern in your behavior..." ugh. And I have said that to my children!!) So disappointing.

Today is Bedtime Day for Lily's class. It's B day for the ABC countdown to the end of the year. She's been so looking forward to this day, when she can bring Mr. Cuggle Wuggles to school and wear her pajamas. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was hoping to wear her Cinderella nightgown, which is sleeveless, silky, and wholly inappropriate for school. But I waited it out, and this morning, she proved me right, and we had all the elements in place for a battle of the wills. Just exactly the way I want her day to start.

I tried to end it before it began by reminding her that I am the mom, and if we need to fight about this, we'll just skip pajamas altogether and wear regular clothes. That helped, and Lily resorted to crying that she didn't want to wear the other pajamas (that cover her bum and are just cute). I explained that I understood she didn't want to, but we don't always get everything we want. And then I did it. I said this stupid thing. Not one of my parents old phrases reused, my own, but WHY did I say it? Almost as soon as it came out I was wincing and shaking my head. I said, "We are not going to school dressed like a hoochy mama in first grade."

Mothering at its finest. How long before I get a call from the teacher saying that Lily called someone a hoochy mama? Can't wait.

3 comments:

Michelle Van Loon said...

A first-grade hoochie mama? That's priceless!

This made me laugh out loud this afternoon. I spent too much time during my daughter's teen years (which overlapped with the bare midriff + hip hugging jeans hoochie mama look) having this conversation. Only it usually wasn't a dialogue as much as it was a clash of the titans. Oy vey.

--julie said...

Hmmm. Do you think I can get it over with now? :)

Unknown said...

When we read this post, we were immediately reminded of the morning that you came downstairs, ready to go to school. I think you were in junior high, and were just beginning to experiment with makeup. Dad sent you back upstairs to wash your face. "You are not going to school looking like a raccoon!" You were devastated, of course.

Mom